YAY adds Digital Source to Partners

YAY has added a new partner to their distribution list.  Digital Source is located in South Africa.  If you wish to opt out you need to log in to your account and do so.  If you are new to YAY, then click here to sign up.

Le Corbusier and Getty

The Getty family (includes iStock) will be reviewing portfolios to remove any images of Le Corbusier furniture after a lawsuit was filed in France against Getty images on copy-write violation.  See their notice below on the items in question and its best to check your portfolios on all your sites for any of these furniture items.  These pieces can be found in several public buildings that you might have worked in and could just be in the background and not the center of focus. 

Recently we have had to take stricter action regarding images of designer furniture in creative imagery coming in to both iStockphoto and Getty Images, specifically the furniture of french designer Le Corbusier. The owners of these designs are extremely protective of their intellectual property and we need to take a hard line on turning away images that contain this kind of furniture.
We will not accept Creative images containing furniture from Le Corbusier. We may also deactivate existing files containing these or similar designs if necessary.
We advise all of our photographers to be aware of designer furniture present in your images. Investigate the designs. If the furniture is a recognizable item from a designer with a well-known name, the design may be protected. Err on the side of caution. You can avoid problems by not shooting this kind of material for Creative RF, here at iStock or at other Getty Images sites.
Here are a few examples of pieces of furniture that we will not accept into the iStockphoto or Getty Images collection. This list is non-exhaustive.

Designer: Le Corbusier

123RF New Royalty Rates

123RF launched their new royalty rates that will go into effect on Jan. 1st, 2013.  Originally they stated that a new rate would be fore new contributors, but it looks like that might have been abandoned for this new system at the end of this year.  They are leaving plenty of time between now and the end of the year to hear the feedback.  Below is their breakdown of how your rates will be give.  Join 123RF here.  It will be hard to swallow $0.216 for the lowest sub sales in the industry. 


123RF.com will be changing its Contributor Commission Payout on January 1, 2013. From now till then, 123RF.com shall continue paying our Contributors at a rate of:

1. 50% net value for credits
2. $0.36 per download for subscriptions

From January 1, 2013 onwards – 123RF shall adopt the new Contributor Commission Payout schedule depicted in the table below:

    123RF shall round the monthly cumulative earnings to the nearest $0.01.

The mechanics of deriving a Contributor’s Commission are as follows:

1.  At the end of every month, a Contributor’s total credits from all downloads in the previous 12 months shall be summed according to this table:

    2.  The summed credit amount shall determine the Contributor’s Level. 
    3.  The Contributor’s level will determine the commissions for each download in the preceding 
         month.

The aim of the new Commission Structure:

1. Rewards Contributors who consistently send in quality Content that are in high demand to 123RF.com.
2. Takes into account the Contributor’s performance and consistency as well as acknowledge loyalty.
3. Takes into account the growth of contributors vs. the growth of sales and the dynamic relationship between the two growth factors.
4. Gives a stable, measurable, predictable and most important of all, specific milestones for achieving targets.
5. Fosters healthy competition for new and old contributors alike.
6. Encourages consistent and sustained uploading of fresh content to 123RF.
7. Takes into account every seasonal sales variation or fluctuation and changes.

January Sales Chart

Above is a chart feature the sales data for January, also so far total sales are up compared to January of last year.  The leader of the pack this month was Alamy which was due to a larger extended license sale.  Other top sites for the month included Dreamstime, Depositphoto, and 123RF.

Shutterstock launches "Sensitive License"

Shutterstock launches a sensitive use license that will allow an increase of sales of up to $75 per image.  Unlike several other companies, SS is going to let you opt out of this feature which will keep your models from being featured in sensitive ads for healthcare or other topics.  This is a great new revenue stream and also gives photographers great control of how their photos should be used.


To Our Valued Contributors,

We would like to tell you about an important update with great potential to increase sales for you. We are updating our Contributor Terms of Service (“TOS”) to enable new sales with a royalty of up to $75 per image download.

Shutterstock services both small and large buyers. In addition to our standard and enhanced licenses, we provide custom licenses to buyers such as large advertising agencies. These agencies require more rights and some flexibility in how an image might ultimately be used.

That flexibility may include "sensitive uses." An example of a "sensitive use" is a healthcare advertisement or political ad. Many stock image agencies, including many of our direct competitors, already include a clause in their license that allows "sensitive uses."

Unlike those stock agencies, Shutterstock is going to put you in control. We are going to give you the option to decide if you want to participate in these sales opportunities.

We will be making changes to the "sensitive use" clauses of our TOS to allow select large-volume customers to use images for certain "sensitive subjects" with the following limitations: customers must indicate that the image is of a model and used for illustrative purposes only. Our policy will continue to prohibit the use of images to promote tobacco; in pornography; in ads or promotional materials for adult entertainment clubs or similar venues; or for escort, dating or similar services.

If you choose to participate, you will have the opportunity to earn much higher royalties from customers representing the top ad agencies in the world. "Sensitive uses" will be a small fraction of the licenses secured by these high volume buyers, but participation gives you full access to all of the sales opportunities that these buyers provide.

To learn more, please visit our FAQ.

If you do not want to participate in these sales opportunities, please visit your account page to change your preferences by March 1.

If you have any further questions, please contact shutterstock.

Regards,
The Shutterstock Team

Commission Changes Coming to 123RF

Commission changes are on the horizon at 123RF for new users.  The memo below has been posted about what is required to stay on the old commission rate for photographers.  No word on what the changes will be or how they will affect us, but guessing by point 3 they will be moving more to match the other big companies with lower payout rates.  At lest they seem to be honest and trying to hang in there for the long run.  123RF is based here in my home town, so we will keep a close eye on them and let you know more down the road.


We will be changing our Contributors’ commission structure effective February 1, 2012.
Here’s what you need to know:

1. All existing contributors shall continue to enjoy the current 50% nett commission share ONLY IF they fulfill ALL of the following criteria.:
• Have registered with 123RF.com before February 1, 2012.
• Have at least 150 accepted images in their respective portfolios by January 9, 2012.
• Have had a minimum of 10 paid downloads by January 27, 2012.
2. All new contributors who start submitting images to 123RF.com AFTER January 27, 2012 OR do not meet all the criteria above shall be enrolled under the new commission structure.
3. For our veteran contributors who have been supporting us all this while, we thank you for your support and we will try our best to grow the business further in 2012. We will also try our very best to maintain the levels of 50% nett commission to you for as long as possible.

More details on the new commission structure shall be announced closer very soon.
In the light of the criteria above:

1. We urge you to continue uploading your images to 123RF.com if you haven’t already met all of the criteria above.
2. We believe it is more expedient to upload your images now rather than later if you haven’t met the sales quota criteria.

Thank you very much for your attention,

Things to Come at Mostphotos

Mostphotos CEO takes a look at the year 2011 and gives us a peek at what the year 2012 will hold for photographers and buyers alike.  Last year sounded like it was the year of getting things running better and this year will be the year of improving and fine tuning.  If you are new to Mostphotos you can sign up here.


2011 was the year when we started our first marketing campaign, kicking off with the Swedish market. The reception has been great, and our customers are even happier than we could ever have anticipated.

This past year, as we entered the market, we decided to put a lot of effort into creating functionalities that would benefit our users. Among other things, we improved the online shopping
experience with international invoice support, and introduced more attractive bundle options such as the ‘monthly’ and ‘download’ packages. In addition, we now have organisation support and collections, and we also have the request feature that was created during the year.

Alongside all this, development during 2011 has revolved primarily around internationalisation, with localisation into different languages, multilingual search, and support for different currencies.

Last but definitely not least, we’ve been busy building a brand new, powerful search engine with some unique filtering options. The release date has not yet been confirmed, but we expect to launch our new search engine sometime this Spring.

2012 will be the year when we take on the remaining Scandinavian markets in order to boost our sales. The focus will still be on selling our monthly bundles, as that’s where the huge majority of the sales are coming from. As last year we pushed mainly to improve the experience for photo buyers, so 2012 will be the year when we really improve the experience for our contributors, with new, interesting and useful features.

To summarise, Mostphotos has a plan: to become the biggest by doing stuff differently. With that in mind, I want to leave you with a quote from Gandhi:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

I wish you all the very best for 2012.


Regards,

Arian Bahrami
CEO